As usual, this column is being written on Thursday. This happens to be Sept. 11, and is the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed so many innocent people and destroyed the World Trade Center as well as damaging the Pentagon.

Piney was thinking back to the days of good presidents. As he drove the streets of Tampa, he remembered drives in Paris. Piney didn’t think he had ever met 12 drivers that he found more interesting than the Paris Embassy motor pool drivers in those old days. There were a dozen of them. 

Citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast quickly slammed valuables and necessities into their bags and frantically tried to evacuate into safer territory before Gustav’s dreaded arrival. 

Here are some thoughts I have on the current Iraq situation.  Since the news can’t get it right or they actually refuse to report the truth, here is how I see it.

I enjoyed spending the Labor Day holiday with my friend Shane as we continued our Monday tradition of dining at Ruby Tuesday’s and catching a movie at the Marquee Cinemas.  That particular day, we saw the new Vin Diesel science fiction film, Babylon A.D., which opened there the previous Friday.  During its opening weekend at the Wytheville theater, Babylon A.D. was greeted with a promotional event, which featured representatives from such area businesses as Game Stop, March of Dimes, Wythe County Public Library, All God’s Creatures Animal Sanctuary and the Bird Sanctuary.  Face painting, games, prizes and several other elements of family fun were also featured.

I was spoiled by an early lifetime of listening to Missionary Baptist preachers, the kinds who wore clip-on ties after working a full week at a real job and accepted love offerings when the congregation insisted but usually just gave that right back to one of the less-fortunate members. Up until maybe a decade ago I’m pretty sure you couldn’t get into that particular club unless you could flat out give a speech. Sure they called them sermons in those days before they called them chatting over bagels or whatever it is they call them now.

I heard about a couple not speaking to each other. The standoff went on for days with neither budging. When the man needed to catch a plane early the next morning, he placed a note beside his sleeping wife, “Please wake me when you leave for work.” He slept smugly, knowing she would be the one to break the silence. The next morning he woke late only to find a note on the nightstand. “Wake up, or you will miss your plane.”

Were my mother still alive today, on Wednesday, Sept. 10, she would turn 81 years old. Sadly, she passed away in April 2004. Although by then she had several health problems, her primary one was Alzheimer’s.

At the time I had finished writing last week’s column, only the first week of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China and transpired.  With that much of the Olympics still remaining, there were too many moments to come worthy of mentioning, that I had to comment this week on the rest of this amazing 29th Summer Olympiad.  Last week, I spent so much time commenting on the cultural and artistic aspects of the Olympics that I only had space enough to mention two athletes in one sport.  While I enjoyed watching the outstanding aquatic efforts made by Michael Phelps and Dara Torres probably more than any other aspect of these games, there are many more great achievements made by our American athletes that are equally noteworthy.  Even though there are still too many to mention, I’ll do my best to touch on some of the highlights.

retirement community in Lynchburg is trying to entice seniors to move to its location by offering warm surroundings, spacious apartments and a carefree lifestyle. Its advertisement’s headline in a senior newspaper says “are you prepared for soaring fuel prices this winter?  Are you spending too much time worrying about high fuel bills?  Leave your worries behind…come live with us.”